There are a whole plethora of content marketing resources available from podcasts, to books, to online tools to help you in your job role.
Content marketing can be a bit of a minefield so it’s always good to have a helping hand and some guidance.
Regardless of whether you’re just starting out in the industry or whether you’re a content marketing pro, content marketing resources can help lighten the load.
To make your life even easier, we’ve divided our resources into different categories depending on which area you need help with.
These go as follows:
- Professional development
- Ways to improve your writing skills
- Generating new ideas
- Creating visual assets
The job of any content marketer is very varied so hopefully having these resources on hand will take some of the pressure off your shoulders.
We’re kicking things off with a list of resources to aid your professional development as marketers should never stop learning.
Professional Development
Even if you’ve landed your dream job and feel like you’ve achieved everything you’ve wanted, there’s always more to learn.
Whilst no one can ever know anything, refreshing and refining your skills on a regular basis allows you to stay on top of your game.
The world of content marketing is always changing and staying in the know is key to being successful.
Below we have devised a list of content marketing resources to keep you stay ahead of the curve regardless of whether you’re a beginner or content marketing extraordinaire.
Credit to HubSpot
Hubspot Academy
The Hubspot Academy is your go-to place to advance your career whilst staying on top of the latest trends in marketing.
There are lots of practical courses on offer which allow you to learn new skills or scrub up on your existing skill set so that you can excel in your role.
To give you a flavour of what the Hubspot Academy has to offer, some of the courses include YouTube Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Inbound Marketing Optimisation, Content Marketing, and Email Marketing.
Not only are these courses an ideal way to learn more about the subject, but they also introduce you to other people in the marketing industry to expand your own network.
When you start one of these courses, you’ll join over 160,000 other professionals who’ve grown their careers as a result of the Hubspot Academy.
You will also receive a globally recognised certification which can be added to your LinkedIn to show employers (or potential employers)that you know your stuff!
Credit to Seth’s Blog
Seth Godin’s blog
Seth Godin is an entrepreneur, best-selling author, and speaker.
He has written numerous best-selling books many of which cover topics related to marketing and are a great resource for anyone interested in the field.
He also has an online blog which is highly popular and attracts millions of readers.
Seth posts on this daily, meaning there’s always something new to feast your eyes on and learn from!
As well as blog posts, you’ll also find a story of the week, books, videos, Udemy courses, and a marketing seminar which is presented by Seth.
This seminar is designed for marketing professionals who want to learn how to build a better business. So far, over 10,000 professionals have benefitted from the seminar and as a result, they have been able to increase their success.
Credit to Neil Patel’s Digital Marketing Blog
Neil Patel’s blog
Neil Patel is a marketing guru who as well as having his own podcast (mentioned below), also runs a fantastic blog for interested marketers.
No stone is left unturned as these blog posts cover topics in-depth and answer all of your most burning questions.
They’re also really easy to read and won’t overwhelm you with information which makes it easier for people to learn from the content.
This is especially important if you’re new to content marketing as you want information which is easily digestible and straightforward.
So whether you want to learn about content creation, SEO, social media, email marketing, or data and analytics, you’ll find a blog to suit your needs.
The content is also accompanied by a downloadable resource which can be used as a template to input your own information.
This is a super useful content marketing resource that comes with an added benefit – it’s totally free!
Credit to Marketing School
Marketing School
Next up on our list of content marketing resources to aid your professional development is a very well-known podcast…
Marketing School is hosted by Neil Patel and Eric Siu – both of whom are experienced and well-respected marketing experts.
Each of the episodes focuses on a new topic, from strategies to improve your content marketing, to top tips on how to increase traffic and conversions.
Most of the episodes are only 5-10 minutes long which makes this ideal for those travelling or for people who are short of time.
We know how busy you marketers are!
If you’re new to content marketing, this podcast can be a fantastic introduction to the field as you can learn from two people who have been there and done it themselves.
There are over 1,400 episodes on Marketing School available which gives you plenty of knowledge and information to soak up!
Content Machine by Dan Norris
From podcasts to books, next up on our list of content marketing resources is ‘Content Machine’ by Dan Norris.
Content Machine delves into author Dan Norris’s own success story about transforming his WordPress support business from zilch to over $1m AUD annual run rate in 2 years.
This is the absolute go-to guide for simplifying the quest for creating content with impact.
Within this gem of a book are easy-to-follow frameworks and downloads from Dan’s own playbook for building business and scaling content marketing.
It also reveals the #1 biggest mistake that kills content marketing efforts (which we couldn’t possibly spoil for you…) and how the best content marketers in the world have built their audience, their content and their business.
From idea generation to writing guidelines and hiring as well as scaling a content team, this book is a must-have for any budding marketing entrepreneur, blogger, a content marketer or marketing manager.
It’s also one of those rare marketing books that never seems to stop being relevant so it’s time to get reading it!
Improve Your Writing
Writing is a big part of content marketing, whether you’re writing a short and snappy social media post or a long-form blog post.
As such, you need to have some tools to back you up to make sure your writing is on point, regardless of the format.
There’s no need to struggle through this process alone as the tools below can make your writing easier and better.
Credit to Ahrefs
Ahrefs
Finding the right keyword when writing content is key as you need to know what people are searching for.
By knowing this information, you can start creating copy that speaks to them and answers their most burning questions.
With Ahrefs finding the right keywords has never been easier as you can control several factors.
For example, you can control the keyword difficulty (how hard it is to rank for a particular keyword) as well as the search volume (how many people are searching for the keyword).
You can also filter down through different locations to see what terms are ranking in which countries. This is highly important when carrying out local SEO as you need to be sure you’re targeting the right people.
Another helpful feature in Ahrefs is the ability to snoop on your competitors which allows you to see the keywords that they’re using and you’re not.
And if that wasn’t enough, you can also take advantage of the Content Explorer tool which helps you analyse topics to see their popularity.
Simply search for a particular topic using Content Explorer and it will generate a list of popular articles from the database.
You’re welcome!
Credit to Tech Learning
Grammarly
You can create the best content in the world, but if it’s full of errors, no one is going to read it.
There’s nothing worse than reading an article online and spotting lots of typos and misplaced commas. It just screams unprofessional.
However, getting your grammar right is actually a lot harder than you think.
Everyone seems to think they can know their punctuation, but whether or not it’s actually in the right place is a whole different matter.
Thankfully there is a solution and that’s Grammarly.
This browser add-on helps you check for spelling and grammatical errors throughout your content to ensure it’s both correct and reads well. It also helps you to focus the tone of your content depending on what you’re writing about to make sure you’re sending out the right message.
Another benefit of using Grammarly is that it checks for plagiarism so you can’t simply copy and paste someone else’s content. This helps your writing feel more authentic and personal to your brand.
Grammarly also helps you avoid typos in social media shares, and as we know, social media is a very powerful tool for brand promotion. Therefore, any content posted on these channels needs to be right.
Think of this tool as your helping hand in creating mistake-free content.
And which marketer doesn’t want that?
Credit to LinkedIn
Headline Analyser
With headline analyser, you can write catchy headlines that grab people’s attention.
Never underestimate the importance of a good headline as this is what hooks people in so that they feel inspired to read the rest of your content.
Opting for a generic, vague headline is never a good idea as this doesn’t give any sort of indication as to what your blog is about.
Instead, you need to strike a fine balance between giving people enough detail that they know what the blog is about and leaving it vague enough to draw them in further.
This is where headline analyser comes in useful as you can plug different headlines into the search bar and test out their usability.
The platform scores your headline based on grammar, structure, and readability so that you can make sure the headline you choose is a winner.
Credit to 9 to 5 Mac
Evernote
Staying organised is key to improving your writing.
Imagine this:
You’ve just been on a really important client call where they gave you loads of useful information about their products, target market, competitors, goals, and budget.
You did a really deep dive of the project and now it’s time to put together a proposal.
BUT:
You’ve lost all of your notes.
You started scribbling them down on a piece of paper before typing some of them up in a random word doc, which now, has been lost in the abyss.
Does this situation sound familiar?
With Evernote, you can easily organise all of your notes, so that you can refer back to them at any given time.
This allows you to stay on top of different projects and meetings without worrying about where the information is stored.
Credit to Scribe Media
Hemingway Editor
The Hemingway Editor highlights lengthy, complex sentences and common errors to improve your style of writing.
It’s super easy to use as all you have to do is copy and paste your content into the platform and let it do its thing.
If you see a yellow sentence, this means you need to shorten or split it.
If you see a red highlight, your sentence is so dense and complicated that your readers will get lost trying to follow the meaning.
To remove the red, you need to edit this sentence to make it easier and more digestible to read.
If you see purple, then this means you should use a shorter word in place of a more complicated one. You can hover your mouse over them for hints if you get stuck.
Adverbs and weakening phrases are helpfully shown in blue meaning you can get rid of them and pick words with more impact.
Having colour codes for all of these areas of improvement is very helpful and allows you to strengthen your writing to make it a better piece overall.
Credit to Twitter
Hubspot
Hubspot offers marketers a whole range of tools that they can use depending on their needs.
What’s even better about Hubspot is that many of these tools are free, meaning teams with smaller budgets can take advantage of them.
This platform is also super easy to use which allows you to quickly find the tool you need instead of wasting time trawling through the website.
Some of the content marketing resources on offer include:
- Pop-up tools
- Live chat
- Form builder
- Title generator
- Free CRM
Hubspot offers so much more than free content marketing resources too.
For instance, it provides a fantastic content management system (CMS) and a powerful automation platform which allows you to centralise everything in one place.
There are also products available for your sales team which means there is a solution for every department in the business.
Thinking of New Ideas
Constantly thinking of new ideas can be tricky for even the most experienced marketer.
Whether it’s blog post titles, ideas for images, or a social media campaign, you need to think of original ideas that are going to get your brand noticed.
Simply rehashing the same stuff time and time again just isn’t going to work as you need to excite your audience and keep them engaged.
Well, the good news is that the tools below can help keep the ideas rolling. Instead of doing all of the hard work yourself, take advantage of these tools and give your brain a bit of a rest!
Credit to AllTop
Alltop
Alltop is a helpful list of the most-read stories online, organised by publication.
This is a fantastic starting point for anyone looking for ideas when it comes to writing fresh content.
The best way to understand Alltop is to think of the New York Times Bestseller List as they find good reads from different niches and help readers navigate those sites by displaying them on a single, aggregated page.
This means it’s a great way to check out different stories relating to your needs and interests without managing a ton of blogs and sites.
It’s also a fantastic way for people to discover new sites instead of seeing the same thing over and over again.
Instead, Alltop gives new quality blogs a chance by displaying them to readers to drive more traction.
The idea is to push people out of their comfort zone so that they are encouraged to read new content and discover new blogs to broaden their horizons.
For marketers, this allows them to tap into new trends and topics by being able to see all of the top stories in one central location.
Credit to Answer the Public
Answer the Public
When writing content, you should be optimising it for questions. That’s because when people take to Google, they’re usually asking for help.
For example, typical search queries might include:
What type of savings account do I need?
Or
How can I reduce my monthly bills?
These are all examples of questions that Google will use to serve us the very best search results. When planning your content, it’s vital you take this into consideration as it will increase the likelihood of you being placed near the top.
You need to have an insight into what your customers are searching for, as this allows you to provide helpful responses to the questions that are being asked. This is where Answer the Public comes in handy as it allows you to see what people are talking about, simply by typing a word/ term into the search bar.
It works by tapping into autocomplete data from different search engines and then fleshes out every useful phrase and question that people are asking about that particular term.
This leads to a goldmine of ideas so you can start creating the type of content your customers really want.
Credit to Forekast
Forekast
Forekast is a popular tool for marketers, social media managers, and PR pros to see what’s happening today, tomorrow, and beyond.
Never again will you have to worry about missing important dates such as national avocado day (yes, that’s a real thing) as this handy tool keeps you totally in the loop.
This can be an absolute gem when you’re planning your content schedule as you can write content around these upcoming events.
This shows your audience that you have your finger on the pulse as you’re making the most of the opportunities.
For example, if Halloween is coming up and you have a blog post about scarily good brand marketing campaigns, then now is the time to push it out.
Trying to align your content with national holidays/ events where possible is a great way of pushing even more traffic towards it.
However, staying on top of the sheer amount of national holidays would be an absolute headache.
There’s pretty much a ‘day’ for everything now!
That’s why you need a tool such as Forekfast as this does all of the thinking for you.
Credit to Trendspottr
Trendspottr
Get ahead of the curve (and your competitors) by using this website to tap into emerging trends and content before it goes viral.
As a predictive trend intelligence platform, TrendSpottr is used by global brands and agencies to predict upcoming trends and key influencers for any topic in real time.
It works by detecting accelerating trends with high viral potential and market impact from Twitter and other data sources hours or days before they have become “popular” and reached mainstream awareness.
This allows marketers to jump on trends before everyone else.
Essentially this means your content is more likely to be seen first which puts you ahead of other companies chasing the same stories.
TrendSpottr has partnered with some of the world’s leading social marketing platforms, including Salesforce, HootSuite, and Sprinklr to transform social media noise into early signals.
Create Outstanding Visuals
As well as getting your writing on point and staying on top of trends, you also need to create outstanding visuals.
Well, we did say the job of a marketer was a busy one!
Visuals bring your content to life and make it easier for your audience to remember important messages. Instead of hitting them with walls of text, you can use images or infographics to communicate the information in a more digestible way.
However, not every marketer is a design pro and you might struggle to create your own visuals from scratch.
That’s why we’re providing you with some great online tools which make creating your own visual assets so much easier.
Credit to Canva
Canva
Canva is extremely easy to use and it’s free – bonus!
Whilst there are premium options available depending on the level of functionality you need, the basic option is more than enough for most marketing teams.
If you’re scratching your head struggling to think of ideas then use one of the many templates available.
All that’s left for you to do at this point is to customise it by adding some of your own text and colour.
It really is that easy.
You can also select what size template you need, for example, whether you’re creating an asset for LinkedIn or Instagram so that it does all of the resizing for you.
What you’re left with is a professional, quality visual asset that proudly represents your brand.
Instead of spending hours trying to crop your own images and design your own layout, canva is your go-to tool for everything visual.
It’s also a lot cheaper than hiring a designer (did we mention that it’s free?) which means that you can spend that budget elsewhere.
Credit to Biteable
Biteable
If you want to create your own video content without the hassle then look no further than Biteable.
This easy-to-use, online tool helps you create professional-looking videos using animation, stock footage, and photos.
Essentially it combines these three formats, giving people freedom and choice when it comes to creating their own video content.
What’s more is that new clips, animations, and templates are added each month which means your video content never becomes stale.
There’s always something new for you to try which allows you to create high-quality content without having to hire a videographer in-house.
So whether you’re just starting out in marketing, or you’re a pro, Biteable is a great tool to have on hand.
As we already know, video is huge for engagement as lots of people prefer to watch content than to read it.
Therefore having a tool which can speed up this process and make your job easier is a huge advantage.
You can also easily convert the videos into formats for social media which means your content can be shared across all of your social channels to drive even more engagement.
Credit to Infogram
Infogram
Infogram is an online tool that allows you to create your own infographics and charts – both of which are fantastic for content marketing.
As we said earlier, visual assets are much easier for readers to digest so having an infographic explaining an important point is a huge plus.
The assets are also super easy to design as there are lots of pre-made templates just waiting to be used which look polished and professional.
If you want to steer away from templates and use something a little more bespoke then there is also the option to build your own. This allows you to create your own custom template, complete with your brand colours, font, and logos.
The great thing is that regardless of which option you choose, creating your visual assets only takes a few minutes.
Instead of creating static bar chats (which are a little urm, dull), you can add animation to them to drum up more visual interest.
After all, if you’re presenting a report or discussing key stats and figures, you want your audience to be engaged.
The possibilities are endless with Infogram, so whether you’re creating bar charts, reports, social media graphics, slides, or dashboards, give this handy tool a try!
Content Marketing Resources That You Need to Check Out Now
From using tools such as Canva and Grammarly, to learning from the likes of Neil Patel and Seth Godin, content marketing resources are designed to make your job easier.
There’s always more to learn in this field, so having a helping hand is a huge advantage regardless of what stage of your career you’re in.
What’s more, is that the job of a content marketer is extremely busy as you turn your hand from creating graphics to crafting amazing, error-free copy.
So how can you do it all?
By using the content marketing resources we have outlined in this post of course!
Take advantage of the different resources and tools available so that you can thrive in your role without being bogged down.
At Canny, helping marketing professionals to thrive is what we do best. We’ve worked with clients from the US to Australia and we’d love to help you create some amazing campaigns. Simply get in touch with our friendly team today and find out more about how we can help!
